The Rose Bush
by Coffeetailor
Summary: Alfred Jones hadn't wanted to move to London, but with a surprise discovery in one of the rose bushes in their new house, maybe it won't be so bad. And who knew fairies liked tea so much? AU
1. Part 01

A/N: I should have been sleeping when this idea finally snuck its way out of my brain and onto paper, but oh well. As expected, I don't own Hetalia or the canon characters from it in this story, but the story itself is mine. I hope you enjoy it.

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><p>Alfred had been against moving to London from the start. His small family, just composed of his half brother and step-father, had had a comfortable life in New York. Even after his mother passed away. For a time at least. But then his step-father, who was really Francis' father, not his, had finished out his contract there and they were packing by the end of the week. Packing up the house they'd lived in for more than a decade. His mother's house.<p>

And maybe that was why he couldn't really feel angry at Francis (he never had come to think of him as 'Dad,' despite never having known his own) for being unable to keep living there. But moving them out of the country? Hell, off of the continent. _That_ had given him plenty of reasons to yell and shout at the French man while they'd started preparing for the move. But that was two months ago already.

The house they'd moved into had some charm he supposed. Plenty of empty rooms to give them all their own space, ivy growing all around the outside, and a big fireplace in the sitting room that he kept wanting to roast marshmallows in. But from the first day they'd pulled up to the house and he'd wandered around with his hands stuck in his pockets, there was one place that he knew would be what made this strange London house home to him.

The rose garden around the back.

His mother had always prized her roses, and even a little overgrown the English roses planted here reminded him of sitting in the grass beside her while she told him about caring for the fussy flowers. The flowers, and the fairies that sometimes lived in them. As a child, he'd loved her stories of fairies and magic, which had somehow always sounded more real when spoken in her crisp London accent than when he'd tried to repeat them. Now that he was older he didn't really believe them of course, but sometimes he caught himself wishing that he did. Still, it was nice to have something here that reminded him of her.

By now, they were mostly moved in but there were still a lot of boxes to go through and Alfred found himself seeking an escape from it for a bit and stepped out into the rose garden with a pair of sheers to start trimming the neglected bushes into shape. It was a tragedy to let such pretty flowers go ignored like that. And since it was obvious that they had gone more than one winter untended, he had his work cut out for him and sat down by one with a bag handy for the trimmings to start removing the bits that were already dead.

As he tried to trace a tangled branch that mostly consisted of brown leaves speckled with mold spots, something shot out of the bush. For a single, jaw dropping moment, Alfred thought that he could see what it was, but that was impossible. A tiny figure flying very quickly with green and gold wings that reminded him of a dragon fly. But it was there and gone too quickly for him to see and more, and he was left staring at empty air, frozen in shock.

A fairy.


	2. Part 02

A/N: Chapter two is here with all the standard disclaimers. Now I should get back to my NaNo.

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><p>He'd searched all over the garden and the trees behind the yard for hours, but all he'd found were some squirrels and a few crows that had plenty of rude things to say about being pestered by the American teenager. By the time that Francis opened the patio door and called out that dinner was ready, Alfred was nearly convinced that he'd just seen some sort of large insect or small bird, or maybe even nothing at all. Alfred brushed the dirt from his knees with a sigh and walked over to collect the garden sheers as he headed for the house. Hadn't gotten a thing done to help the roses and all he had to show for his time was dirty jeans.<p>

"Will I have to start dragging you in from the garden now?" Francis asked with a fond smile and a chuckle, leaning against the door frame. "They are quite lovely, _non_?"

Alfred stuck his hands in his pockets once he'd put the sheers down just outside the door. "Yeah, they're pretty. Mom would have liked this place."

The older man sighed softly and reached a hand out to settle it on top of Alfred's head, ruffling his hair gently. "_Oui_, she would have. I hope you come to like living here too. You'll make friends soon enough. Matthieu as already met someone; did he tell you?" Moving his hand to Alfred's back, he guided him into the house and slid the door shut behind them.

"Albino kid, yeah. Gilligan or something, from Germany," Alfred said. As if he could forget about the guy Matt had spent an _hour_ talking about while they'd been hanging up pictures, just because he'd actually come up and said hi to his wallflower brother. Which, Alfred could admit, was pretty rare. Matt was the definition was invisible most of the time. "A little too full of himself if you ask me."

The teenager was promptly flicked in the side of the head as his younger brother by one year walked past, carrying a small stack of plates. "It's _Gilbert_, and like you're the one to talk, mister I'm the hero, you have to be the sidekick."

"Dude, you carried that dumb bear around until you were twelve, like hell you were going to play the hero," Alfred said with a snort, grinning. In the face of teasing Matt, worrying about fairies that weren't real was completely put out of his mind.

"I was _seven _and Kuma isn't dumb!"

Alfred didn't really get much more time to himself until it was time for bed. He sprawled out on top of his blankets, some of the first things he'd pulled out of the moving boxes, just dressed in sleeping pants and staring at the ceiling. The room was nice enough, he'd admit. And it looked out on the garden, which was why he'd put his dibs on it.

Rolling over, he looked out the window with a little smile. Maybe he could get used to this place after—

Something flashed across his window and promptly interrupted his thoughts. What the hell had that been?! Alfred snatched up his glasses and jumped up to his feet and ran tot he window, blue eyes going wide.

There was definitely something fluttering around the roses, moonlight catching on the wings and flashing gold. It was too far away to see much of anything, but he could see enough to know one thing. _That _was not a bird, and it wasn't a damn bug either.

He didn't even bother to grab shoes or a jacket as he ran out of his bedroom and down the hall for the patio door. The teenager only just managed to keep himself from slamming the door open. He didn't want to scare it away, whatever it was out there, so he slid the door open as quietly as he could, stopping when it was open just enough for him to slip through.

The thing was still fluttering around in the air over the roses and Alfred couldn't help but to stare, utterly transfixed. It almost seemed to glow even, and not just in the moonlight. Very slowly, he crept forward towards it, holding his breath. At last, he was only two feet away and could see exactly what he'd spotted that afternoon.

It looked almost human, if he could ignore the wings on its back and just how small the tiny creature was. Alfred thought that he would be able to completely enclose it within his fingers if he just reached out to snatch it. He swallowed heavily. It really was a fairy. One with blond hair and pale skin, wearing a tiny green tunic that looked like leaves layered together.

He must have made a sound or gasped, because the fairy spun around and stared at Alfred with the greenest eyes he had ever seen, eyes that were wide with shock and surprise. For a moment, they just stared at each other, human and fairy.

And then in an instant the moment was over and the fairy turned back around with a curse, shooting off towards the trees. No matter how fast Alfred scrambled after him, he couldn't keep up. "Wait! I'm not going to hurt you!" But the fairy was gone and he was left alone, head spinning. A fairy. A real fairy.


	3. Part 03

A/N: Standard disclaimers apply, and I really should be working on my NaNo instead of new fanfiction, but... sigh, the grass is always greener right?

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><p>While he didn't make himself search the pitch black woods all night, suffice it to say that Alfred didn't get more than an hour of sleep. He kept staring out the window at the rose garden, half hoping that he would spot the fairy out there again, and <em>hoping<em> he hadn't scared it off by getting that close.

Fairies were real. It wasn't an easy fact to swallow anymore, not like when he'd been a kid. There really were fairies. Or at least one of them, but he didn't want to think of the green and gold one in the roses being alone in the world. That was just sad.

He ran a hand though his hair as he stumbled down the hall towards breakfast. Just found out they existed and he was already worrying about the little thing. Like he knew how to help one anyway, _if_ it was in trouble. Could chase a cat off maybe, but that was it. Of course, his brain was so stuck on that thought that he barely heard Matt's good morning on the way to the fridge to grab the orange juice, or Francis' exasperated scolding when Alfred took a swig directly from the jug. What he did notice, however, was the container of cream that the French man had for his coffee, and it gave him an idea.

"I do not think that new good will materialize if you stare long enough, Alfred," Francis said, reaching over the teenager's arm to shut the refrigerator door.

Alfred puffed his cheeks out in irritation at the comment, at least until he remembered why he'd been staring into the fridge in the first place. "Hey, what was it that Mom said about cream and fairies?"

The sudden question made Francis blink in surprise, glancing back at Matt as if the younger boy would have more of an idea what his brother was talking about. Without much result of course. "Fairies? Well, that you put out milk and honey to appease them. But I think we know that's just a silly story. Part of the little fairy tales she told you two when you were babies. The only thing you'll do putting out milk is attract all the cats in the neighborhood to the back door."

"Do we have any honey?" Alfred asked, clearly ignoring most of the older man's response as he pondered whether or not it would make a decent peace offering to their guest— No, the fairy had probably been there first, so their neighbor then. Without really listening for an answer, he walked into the pantry, which was still mostly empty, to poke at the shelves. Hm, no honey. "Think maple syrup would work instead?"

"You're not using my maple syrup!" Matt called in from the kitchen, that rare edge to his voice that only showed up when guarding his precious maple or talking about hockey. (Never, never insult hockey in front of Matt.) The edge that told Alfred not to cross him on that particular subject, really. Or else. And Matt could get mean with a hockey stick.

Ooookay then, finding something else to use. Maybe he'd just walk down to the corner store and actually get some honey himself. Or would just mixing sugar into it work?

As Alfred reached for the canister, he had to pause as what he'd started planning caught up with him. He was putting out an offering to a _fairy_. Somehow, he didn't think that his life could have turned so weird so quickly if they'd stayed in the States. He gave a half laugh and pulled his his hand away from the canister. Maybe this was just a little too weird for him after all.

"You know, I think I'm going to go on a walk to clear my head. Didn't sleep well last night, haha," he said quickly as he rubbed the back of his neck. Alfred ducked into his room to pull on clothes, rather doubting the neighbors would appreciate him walking around topless first thing in the morning. Too bad for them, because he was HOT.

"Don't get lost," his step-father called after him as Alfred headed out the door and onto the front walk. When the teenager just waved over his shoulder and shut the door behind himself, Francis sighed. What _was_ he going to do with that boy? More like his mother every day.

Alfred kicked a small stone along the sidewalk as he headed down the street. From the looks of the other houses in the area, some of them could have easily been a hundred years old or more. Which, for an American raised kid, was pretty odd to think about. Though still not as weird as the thought of there being a _fairy_ in his backyard.

He felt like he had a million questions to ask the little thing. Which stories had them right, which were just entirely made up? How long did they live? How long had that particular one lived there? Alfred was pretty sure it could talk, considering he could have sword it cursed at him as it flew off.

Well, he supposed that he first thing he found out would be if the milk and honey thing was true. If memory served, there was a small corner store a block... that way. Alfred swung a left and went into the store (so it was two blocks, sue him) and came out a few minutes later with a jar of honey. He wasn't going to risk being murdered in his sleep for touching the maple, even if he'd gone over the deep end deciding to really do this. Maybe if he showed the fairy that he was a nice guy, it'd stick around long enough for him to talk to it. The thought made him smile a bit as he headed back towards the house.

Alfred was pretty sure that his family thought he was insane for going through the effort of warming a pan of milk to properly dissolve the honey into it, but he wanted to make his chances of this working as good as he could. He poured it into a shallow bowl and carried it outside while it was still warm, looking around as he debated where to set it down. Maybe down by the rose bushes? That seemed to be where the fairy had been each time Alfred had seen it. Yeah, that would work.

Walking slowly to make sure it didn't spill, the teenager carried the bowl over to the rose bushes and knelt down to sit it among the roots of one of them. It wasn't until he lifted his head, ready to stand and go back inside, that it saw it. And it saw _him_.

The fairy was sprawled over a large red rose in full bloom, green eyes wide as it (no, the fairy was a he wasn't it?) stared back up at him. Neither of them moved, holding their collective breath. Alfred finally decided to make the first move, wetting his lips to speak. "...hey." Alfred Jones, expert speaking he was not. But then the fairy jerked and his heart leapt up into his throat. "Please, don't run away!"

He reached out without thinking, quick fingers closing around the tiny body, trying to be gentle as he could. The smallest of hands pushed against his much larger ones and what he'd just done caught up to Alfred.

"Shit, shit, sorry!" he said, staring at his hands but not opening them right away. He hadn't meant to grab him, but now that he had he was sure that if he just let go now, for sure the fairy would fly away and he'd never see him again. "Sorry, I really just wanted to talk to you. If I let go, will you stay a little while, please?"

The pushing stopped as there was an extended silence. Alfred had started to wonder if the fairy understood English when a hesitant response finally leaked through between his fingers. "...just a few minutes."

Well, he'd been right about the fairy being male going by that voice, and Alfred offered a broad smile as he opened his hands again. Of course, the fairy's scowl up at him was expected, but the question of whether or not he deserved it was interrupted as he noticed something... odd.

"What the hell's wrong with your eyebrows?"


	4. Part 04

A/N: I hope everyone had a happy holiday and for those who did NaNo in November I hope you did well! (Yes, I got my 50k.) Welcome to the newest chapter of The Rose Bush. I don't own Hetalia or their related characters, and hope you enjoy this chapter.

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><p>Somehow Alfred got the idea that he shouldn't have said that the moment the words left his mouth and the fairy's face darkened drastically, one of those massive eyebrows starting to twitch. And man, who would have thought that such a little creature could make so much noise?"<p>

"There is nothing wrong with my eyebrows!" the fairy bellowed, glaring furiously up at the teenager. He flew up and punched Alfred right in the nose, and the fact that it barely made the human blink did _not_ help his temper. "I didn't agree to stay here and talk to you just so you could insult me, you bloody git!"

"H-hey, I didn't mean it like that!" Alfred said quickly, bringing his hands up to flail a bit at the tiny creature, afraid he'd change his mind and leave anyway. And after finding a fairy, a real, live, honest to god fairy, he couldn't bring himself to just let the creature fly off again! "Please don't go!"

Grumbling, the fairy glowered at Alfred, staying right there in front of his face, meaning that Alfred pretty much had to cross his eyes to focus on him, and even then it wasn't a clear view. "I'm only staying because I gave my word that I would, but one more crack about my face and that's it. You understand, human?"

Alfred let out a little breath of relief that ruffled the fairy's hair a little before he gave him a bright smile. "Got it. Anyway, I'm Alfred. My family just moved here. So I guess we're neighbors now!" He almost stuck his hand out to shake before remembering that the other was too small for that. So instead he offered him a single finger, shifting back so he wouldn't be breathing on him anymore. "What's your name?"

The fairy stared at the offered finger for a while before finally, reluctantly, putting a hand on the tip so they could 'shake hands.' It really did look a little silly but still made Alfred's smile brighten despite that.

"It's Arthur," he said at last, not even sure why he was telling the human his name (well, his given name). It wasn't like he was going to be around him for more than a few short minutes, like he'd promised. And after that if he was smart he wouldn't talk to him again. Humans and fairies _didn't_ interact past when a human grew up, and even then they only spoke to certain children. "Well, go ahead and ask your questions already. I don't have all day."

"Hang on a second; I'm thinking!" Alfred said with a little huff. Man, fairies sure weren't sweet like the stories said, that was for sure. Or maybe he'd just met the only one who was cranky. The thought that maybe he was cranky because he'd been grabbed didn't really occur to him. "Okay, so why do you keep hanging around the roses? You must have noticed us move in, right? And the roses are right in view. Anyone could have seen you."

Of course that would be the first question that he asked. Arthur grimaced and debated just not answer at all, or lying. H hadn't said that he'd answer honestly after all. But there was something about that open and honest curiosity that tugged the truth from him. Brat.

"They're my roses, that's why," he said after the mental debate. "All but the first were grown from clippings of the bush I was born from."

Alfred blinked in surprise at the answer. Well that wasn't what he'd expected to hear for sure. A comment about not letting humans nudge him from his home or protecting something from them seemed more likely. Just the roses, really? It took him a moment longer to realize the other part of what Arthur had set. "Wait, you were born from a rose bush?"

Arthur huffed with what looked like the start of another miniature rant. "And what is wrong with that?! Not all creatures have to start as lumpy parasites in their mothers' bodies!"

"I didn't say it was a bad thing!" Arthur said quickly, ready to defend since it was obvious that Arthur had taken offense. Again. High strung little guy, wasn't he? Sure made him wonder if he'd been poked at about it before. Which, considering how guys could get about flowers, was pretty damn well possible. "I was just surprised, okay? Didn't know that there really were flower fairies. How far can you go from your bush? Is that from any of the bushes since they're all related to yours or just from the one you were born from? Would something bad happen if you went too far from it, like if someone grabbed you and and took you away. Not that I would! I mean someone else! What about if something happened to your bush?"

The fairy was a little taken aback by the slew of questions and several times opened his mouth to answer or tell the teenager off, only not to get a chance to do either. Did Alfred even breathe? He didn't seem to take any time between questions to do so. When Alfred at last seemed to take a pause, Arthur quickly took his chance to speak before he could lose it again. Especially if Alfred was thinking of more questions to ask. "Good lords Alfred, do you ever come up for air? How am I supposed to answer anything if I can't get a word in edgewise?!"

Opening his mouth, Alfred apparently thought better of it and sheepishly remained silent, realizing that he wasn't going to get his answers if he just kept on talking. So he just mutter a tiny "sorry," and said nothing else for the moment.

The fairy still waited a bit to make sure that the human wasn't going to burst out another batch of questions and nodded in satisfaction when Alfred resisted the urge. "Much better. Now, I can go plenty far enough from my bush's direct descendants. I don't like to go further than the fence around the human house because it's uncomfortable, and I can't protect _my_ bush if I'm too far away. Something _very_ bad will happen if I go too far away or something happens to my bush, even if the others are fine, and you'd better not do anything to it or I'll turn you into an ugly old toad and let the local cats have you. Is that clear?"

Alfred blinked, staring at the tiny fairy as the processed all of that information, almost submitting to the desire to ask even more questions a few times before holding back. But there was one that he just had to know. "Can you really turn me into a toad?"

Arthur flew closer and grasped hold of the bridge of Alfred's glasses to tug them down so he could look directly into the teen's eyes. "Whether I can or can't, do you want to find it out the hard when, when you're doomed to eating flies for the rest of your short life until the Frenchman you live with cooks you up for dinner?" he asked, voice low and serious. He waited until Alfred had carefully shaken his head in denial. "Didn't think so. Be a good lad and watch out for my bush, and we'll get along fine."

"Does that mean you'll come around to chat with me now and then?" Alfred asked, moving his head back so he could fix his glasses and properly see the fairy again. Now that he'd actually met Arthur, even if his foul temper and bushy eyebrows would never have made it into a Disney (Tinkerbell, he was not, though maybe there was something to be said for temper there…), he couldn't help but want to know more, and not just about his being a fairy either.

The question seemed to catch Arthur off guard, because he nearly dropped out of the air (and glared when Alfred had to stifle a snicker) before righting himself. "Why the hell would I do that?!"

"Well, I didn't see any other fairies flying around, so I thought you might be lonely," Alfred said with a warm, friendly smile that Arthur couldn't help but to feel was sincere. "No more grabbing, I promise. I just figured that we could be friends."

"I don't need friends, especially human ones. I'm perfectly fine on my own!" Arthur insisted, the tiny fairy sputtering in flustered embarrassment at the offer. He turned his back to Alfred, not that it hide the pink creeping into his ears. "Especially when you go through the effort of bringing me milk and honey but fail to put it into proper tea. I drink Earl Grey, like a proper English gentleman, go get it into your head."

Even watching as the fairy flew away, Alfred couldn't help to smile, something that quickly widened into a full grin. For all of his protests, Arthur hadn't said that he wasn't coming back, and had even let slip something that he liked.

Who'd have thunk, huh? That, his first friend in England was to be a fairy.


End file.
